Haveman denounces Supreme juvenile lifer ruling

Thursday

Jul 10, 2014 at 9:26 AM

The Associated Press

Hundreds of Michigan prisoners automatically sentenced to life behind bars as teens aren't entitled to a new day in court, the Michigan Supreme Court said this week in a split 4-3 decision that blocks one route to possible release but won't be the final word.It is the latest in a series of rulings as 28 states determine how to apply a landmark 2012 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that determined mandatory life-without-parole sentences for teens were unconstitutional. But the justices didn't give clear guidance on whether the decision should be applied retroactively.“I’m not the same person I was at 19, 18, 17 years old. They aren’t either,” said Rep. Joe Haveman, who has become an outspoken advocate for prison reform in Michigan during his term in state office. “I just fundamentally disagree with it.”The cases of those 360-some inmates already incarcerated as teenagers with no parole should be re-examined, but it doesn’t mean they should all be released, the Holland Republican said.“It looks like a political decision more than anything,” he said.If the Legislature doesn’t pass a resolution in opposition to the ruling, Haveman vowed to himself send a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court, urging them to make clear whether their ruling applies retroactively.Writing for the majority, Michigan Justice Stephen Markman said the new rule is "procedural" and not "substantive," a key test when determining whether retroactivity fits. He also said there would be many problems."There would be considerable financial, logistical, and practical barriers placed on prosecutors to recreate or relocate evidence that had previously been viewed as irrelevant and unnecessary," Markman wrote.Markman was joined by Chief Justice Robert Young Jr. and justices David Viviano and Brian Zahra.In dissent, Justices Mary Beth Kelly, Michael Cavanagh and Bridget McCormack said new sentencing hearings would affect just a tiny fraction of Michigan's prison population and not strain the court system. They noted that the U.S. Supreme Court found children to be different than adults under the U.S. Constitution.The state Supreme Court still won't have the final word. U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara last year ordered parole hearings for the same class of prisoners, but everything is on hold while the decision is appealed by Attorney General Bill Schuette.Schuette praised the state court ruling as a victory for crime victims and their families."This ruling should bring a measure of peace to the many families who struggled with the possibility of painful re-sentencing hearings for cases successfully prosecuted decades ago," he said.Sheldry Topp, who turns 70 in September, is the oldest Michigan inmate serving a mandatory no-parole sentence for murder as a teen in Oakland County. He has been in prison for nearly 52 years.“He was a little old man,” Haveman said of meeting Topp. “It serves no public good any more to keep a guy that age in prison”— Sentinel writer Andrea Goodell contributed to this report.